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Jolliet O. Integrating Dietary Impacts in Food Life Cycle Assessment. Front Nutr 2022; 9:898180. [PMID: 35911123 PMCID: PMC9326460 DOI: 10.3389/fnut.2022.898180] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/17/2022] [Accepted: 05/19/2022] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Food production and food consumption have been too long studied separately. This paper therefore reviews progresses in assessment methods and identifies how nutrition effects on human health and environmental impacts of the entire food production and consumption can and should be consistently and systematically assessed, on a life cycle-based and a health-based perspective. Main observations include: (a) The strong activity in the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of a large range of agriculture production, covering beyond carbon footprint the biodiversity and health impacts of land, water, fertilizers, and pesticide use. (b) The multi-functionality of all foods and the need to compare a wide range of possible alternative including comparing serving size, meal alternatives and diets. (c) The availability of epidemiological dietary risk factors expressed in DALYs, enabling the creation of an additional LCA nutritional impact category and providing much broader flexibility in the choice of the functional unit and the kind of valid comparison LCA can address. (d) The need to use Big Data and machine learning method to better understand interactions and propose healthy and sustainable food baskets. As illustrated by the fruit yogurt example, dietary impacts on human health often dominate the life cycle impacts on human health and it is strongly recommended to consider them in the life cycle inventory and impact assessment of all commodities and foods that will eventually be consumed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Olivier Jolliet
- Department of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States
- Quantitative Sustainability Assessment, Department of Environmental and Resource Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
- *Correspondence: Olivier Jolliet,
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Stylianou KS, Fulgoni VL, Jolliet O. Small targeted dietary changes can yield substantial gains for human health and the environment. NATURE FOOD 2021; 2:616-627. [PMID: 37118177 DOI: 10.1038/s43016-021-00343-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2020] [Accepted: 07/13/2021] [Indexed: 04/30/2023]
Abstract
To identify environmentally sustainable foods that promote health, we combined nutritional health-based and 18 environmental indicators to evaluate, classify and prioritize individual foods. Specifically for nutrition, we developed the Health Nutritional Index to quantify marginal health effects in minutes of healthy life gained or lost of 5,853 foods in the US diet, ranging from 74 min lost to 80 min gained per serving. Environmental impacts showed large variations and were found to be correlated with global warming, except those related to water use. Our analysis also indicated that substituting only 10% of daily caloric intake from beef and processed meat for fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes and selected seafood could offer substantial health improvements of 48 min gained per person per day and a 33% reduction in dietary carbon footprint.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katerina S Stylianou
- Department of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
| | | | - Olivier Jolliet
- Department of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
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Standardized Recipes and Their Influence on the Environmental Impact Assessment of Mixed Dishes: A Case Study on Pizza. SUSTAINABILITY 2020. [DOI: 10.3390/su12229466] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Food and diet life cycle assessment (LCA) studies offer insights on the environmental performance and improvement potential of food systems and dietary patterns. However, the influence of ingredient resolution in food-LCAs is often overlooked. To address this, four distinct decomposition methods were used to determine ingredients for mixed dishes and characterize their environmental impacts, using the carbon footprint of the U.S. daily pizza intake as a case study. Pizza-specific and daily pizza intake carbon footprints varied substantially between decomposition methods. The carbon footprint for vegetarian pizza was 0.18–0.45 kg CO2eq/serving, for meat pizza was 0.56–0.73 kg CO2eq/serving, and for currently consumed pizzas in the U.S. (26.3 g/person/day; 75 pizzas types) was 0.072–0.098 kg CO2eq/person/day. These ranges could be explained by differences in pizza coverage, ingredient resolution, availability of ingredient environmental information, and ingredient adjustability for losses between decomposition methods. From the approaches considered, the USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, which reports standardized food recipes in relative weights, appears to offer the most appropriate and useful food decompositions for food-LCAs. The influence and limitations of sources of reference flows should be better evaluated and acknowledged in food and diet LCAs.
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Damiani M, Lamouroux N, Pella H, Roux P, Loiseau E, Rosenbaum RK. Spatialized freshwater ecosystem life cycle impact assessment of water consumption based on instream habitat change modeling. WATER RESEARCH 2019; 163:114884. [PMID: 31351350 DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2019.114884] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2019] [Revised: 07/16/2019] [Accepted: 07/17/2019] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
In this article a new characterization model and factors are proposed for the life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) of water consumption on instream freshwater ecosystems. Impact pathways of freshwater consumption leading to ecosystem damage are described and the alteration of instream physical habitat is identified as a critical midpoint for ecosystem quality. The LCIA characterization model aims to assess the change in habitat quantity due to consumptive water use. It is based on statistical, physical habitat simulation for benthic invertebrates, fish species and their size classes, and guilds of fish sharing common habitat preferences. A habitat change potential (HCP) midpoint, mechanistic indicator, is developed and computed on the French river network at the river reach scale (the river segment with variable length between the upstream and downstream nodes in the hydrographic network), for median annual discharges and dry seasons. Aggregated, multi-species HCPs at a river reach are proposed using various aggregation approaches. Subsequently, the characterization factors are spatially aggregated at watershed and sub-watershed scales. HCP is highly correlated with median and low flow discharges, which determine hydraulic characteristics of reaches. Aggregation of individual HCPs at reach scale is driven by the species most sensitive to water consumption. In spatially aggregated HCPs, consistently with their reduced smaller average discharge rate, small stream habitats determine the overall watershed characterization. The study is aimed primarily at life cycle assessment (LCA) practitioners and LCIA modelers. However, since it is the result of a productive cross-fertilization between the ecohydrology and LCA domains, it could be potentially useful for watershed management and risk assessment as well. At the moment, the proposed model is applicable in France. For a broader implementation, the development of global, high resolution river databases or the generalization of the model are needed. Our new factor represents nevertheless an advancement in freshwater ecosystems LCIA laying the basis for new metrics for biodiversity assessment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mattia Damiani
- ITAP, Univ Montpellier, Irstea, Montpellier SupAgro, ELSA Research Group and ELSA-PACT Industrial Chair, Montpellier, France.
| | | | - Hervé Pella
- Irstea Lyon, UR RiverLy, Villeurbanne, France
| | - Philippe Roux
- ITAP, Univ Montpellier, Irstea, Montpellier SupAgro, ELSA Research Group and ELSA-PACT Industrial Chair, Montpellier, France
| | - Eléonore Loiseau
- ITAP, Univ Montpellier, Irstea, Montpellier SupAgro, ELSA Research Group and ELSA-PACT Industrial Chair, Montpellier, France
| | - Ralph K Rosenbaum
- ITAP, Univ Montpellier, Irstea, Montpellier SupAgro, ELSA Research Group and ELSA-PACT Industrial Chair, Montpellier, France
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Tricarico JM, Slimko ML, Graves WB, Eve MD, Thurston JA. Elevating dairy research and extension through partnership: Outcomes from the United States Department of Agriculture and National Dairy Council collaborative meeting to develop a coordination roadmap. J Dairy Sci 2019; 102:9518-9524. [PMID: 31351733 DOI: 10.3168/jds.2019-16579] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/06/2019] [Accepted: 05/28/2019] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Dairy foods provide a significant portion of the recommended daily nutrition for much of the US population. Improving the availability of safe and nutritious dairy products and decreasing the environmental impact of the dairy community continue to be high priorities for both industry and the public sector. In recognition of these shared priorities, scientists and other specialists from the USDA, National Dairy Council, industry, academia, and nongovernmental organizations participated in the "Elevating Dairy Research and Extension Through Partnership" meeting on June 19, 2018. The purpose of the meeting was to strengthen partnerships and identify dairy-related research and extension needs in human nutrition, environmental sustainability, food safety, and product innovation that would benefit from enhanced coordination and collaboration across the dairy community, academia, and government. To catalyze further progress on these topics, the meeting organizers agreed to leverage the content and expertise that emerged from the meeting to develop a dairy research and extension coordination roadmap. The roadmap will establish and articulate a vision for coordinated collaboration between USDA researchers, the National Dairy Council, university researchers, extension specialists, and other dairy community stakeholders in the private and public sectors. This article represents the proceedings of the meeting and is intended to broadly communicate the dairy research and extension discussion and next steps to the dairy research and extension communities and other stakeholders in industry, academic, and government sectors.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - M L Slimko
- National Dairy Council, Rosemont, IL 60018
| | - W B Graves
- National Dairy Council, Rosemont, IL 60018
| | - M D Eve
- USDA, Agricultural Research Service, Beltsville, MD 20705
| | - J A Thurston
- USDA, National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Washington, DC 20024
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Verones F, Bare J, Bulle C, Frischknecht R, Hauschild M, Hellweg S, Henderson A, Jolliet O, Laurent A, Liao X, Lindner JP, de Souza DM, Michelsen O, Patouillard L, Pfister S, Posthuma L, Prado V, Ridoutt B, Rosenbaum RK, Sala S, Ugaya C, Vieira M, Fantke P. LCIA framework and cross-cutting issues guidance within the UNEP-SETAC Life Cycle Initiative. JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION 2017; 161:957-967. [PMID: 32461713 PMCID: PMC7252522 DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.05.206] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/03/2023]
Abstract
Increasing needs for decision support and advances in scientific knowledge within life cycle assessment (LCA) led to substantial efforts to provide global guidance on environmental life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) indicators under the auspices of the UNEP-SETAC Life Cycle Initiative. As part of these efforts, a dedicated task force focused on addressing several LCIA cross-cutting issues as aspects spanning several impact categories, including spatiotemporal aspects, reference states, normalization and weighting, and uncertainty assessment. Here, findings of the cross-cutting issues task force are presented along with an update of the existing UNEP-SETAC LCIA emission-to-damage framework. Specific recommendations are provided with respect to metrics for human health (Disability Adjusted Life Years, DALY) and ecosystem quality (Potentially Disappeared Fraction of species, PDF). Additionally, we stress the importance of transparent reporting of characterization models, reference states, and assumptions, in order to facilitate cross-comparison between chosen methods and indicators. We recommend developing spatially regionalized characterization models, whenever the nature of impacts shows spatial variability and related spatial data are available. Standard formats should be used for reporting spatially differentiated models, and choices regarding spatiotemporal scales should be clearly communicated. For normalization, we recommend using external normalization references. Over the next two years, the task force will continue its effort with a focus on providing guidance for LCA practitioners on how to use the UNEP-SETAC LCIA framework as well as for method developers on how to consistently extend and further improve this framework.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francesca Verones
- Industrial Ecology Programme, Department of Energy and Process Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), No-7491, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Jane Bare
- US EPA, Office of Research and Development, National Risk Management Research Laboratory, 26 W West MLK Dr., Cincinnati, OH, 45268, USA
| | - Cécile Bulle
- CIRAIG, Ecole des Sciences de la Gestion, Université du Québec À Montréal, 315, rue Sainte-Catherine Est, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | | | - Michael Hauschild
- Division for Quantitative Sustainability Assessment, Department of Management Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Bygningstorvet 116B, 2800, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Stefanie Hellweg
- ETH Zurich, Institute of Environmental Engineering, 8093, Zürich, Switzerland
| | | | - Olivier Jolliet
- School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Alexis Laurent
- Division for Quantitative Sustainability Assessment, Department of Management Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Bygningstorvet 116B, 2800, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Xun Liao
- Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland
| | | | - Danielle Maia de Souza
- University of Alberta, Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science, T6G 2P5, Edmonton, A Alberta, Canada
| | - Ottar Michelsen
- NTNU Sustainability, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), NO-7491, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Laure Patouillard
- CIRAIG, École Polytechnique de Montréal, P.O. Box 6079, Montréal, Québec, H3C 3A7, Canada
| | - Stephan Pfister
- ETH Zurich, Institute of Environmental Engineering, 8093, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Leo Posthuma
- RIVM (Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment), Centre for Sustainability, Environment and Health, P.O. Box 1, 3720 BA, Bilthoven, The Netherlands
- Radboud University Nijmegen, Department of Environmental Science, Institute for Water and Wetland Research, Heyendaalseweg 135, 6525 AJ, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Valentina Prado
- Institute of Environmental Sciences CML, Leiden University, Einsteinweg 2, 2333 CC, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Brad Ridoutt
- Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Agriculture and Food, Private Bag 10, Clayton South, Victoria, 3169, Australia
- University of the Free State, Department of Agricultural Economics, Bloemfontein, 9300, South Africa
| | - Ralph K Rosenbaum
- IRSTEA, UMR ITAP, ELSA-PACT - Industrial Chair for Environmental and Social Sustainability Assessment, 361 rue Jean-François Breton, BP 5095, 34196, Montpellier, France
| | - Serenella Sala
- European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Directorate D: Sustainable Resource, Bioeconomy Unit, Via E. Fermi, 2749, Ispra, VA, Italy
| | - Cassia Ugaya
- Federal University of Technology, Avenida Sete de Setembro, Rebouças Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil
| | - Marisa Vieira
- PRé Consultants B.V., Stationsplein 121, 3818 LE, Amersfoort, The Netherlands
| | - Peter Fantke
- Division for Quantitative Sustainability Assessment, Department of Management Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Bygningstorvet 116B, 2800, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
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